The Production of Arrows AND Arrow Shafts

 Be it in North American or the rest of the world, it is commonly believed that arrow shafts were either made out of bulrushes, cat-tails, reeds; or out of shoots, such as dogwood, wild rose, ash, birch, choke-cherry, and willow; and, I suppose that they were--on rare occasion. But this was a very inefficient, labour, and time consuming method of obtaining what infallibly turned out to be very inferior, unreliable, shaft material.
 If, or when, using this, or any other method; the shoots, or sticks, of shaft wood still had to be shaved, sanded, heat and pressure straightened. 
Tools, made of bone, or sandstone, were used to shape, size, and straighten the shaft wood, making dowelling.
While the North American native did not fall many trees they did fall some; as evidenced by their totem poles. They also cut and split small logs. It was, actually, through a process very similar to producing cedar shakes or splitting kindling that most arrow shafts were produced. The Native North Americans may have been primitive, the last truly stone age people on earth but they were definitely not stupid.

Reeds from common reed grasses were also used with some frequency throughout the Americas with the exception of the Plains where reeds did not grow.

However and where ever obtained; the shaft wood must always be: shaved, sanded and or heat and pressure straightened. 

Because they are hollow light and lack spine, reed-shaft arrows typically have a wooden fore-shaft and a wooden plug for the nock end of the arrows. If a fore-shaft was used, it could be glued to the main shaft, tied with sinew, or fit closely enough to not need glue or sinew.

Points were made of antler, bark, bone, horn, leather, or wood and were attached to the arrow shafts with a variety of methods. Most frequently, the arrow shaft would have a slit cut unto one end to accept the point. Cord or sinew would then be wrapped around the shaft to pinch the slit closed.

Fletching balances the weight of the arrowhead to prevent the arrows from tumbling end over end in flight. When fletched properly an arrow will spin in a spiral, producing the ideal trajectory.

When making field expedient arrows it is not always necessary to fletch them, simply cut thin shavings off the shaft and leave them attached at one end, when bent up in flight these should act as make-sift and easy to construct flights. Do not let them run across your hand.
The bow conveys power to the arrow through the bowstring. The amount of power is equal to the strength required to bend the bow into an arc when the arrow is drawn to its ful length. If the bow is stiff (and if it doesn't break), the amount or force can be great. Bows ar described in terms of pounds of pull necessary to bend the bow to the full length of the arrow.
The force is a constant for each bow, reflecting its stiffness and the length of pull appropriate far a particular length of arrow. Since force is constant, if mass increases, acceleration must decrease. If you have a heavy (solid-shaft) arrow, the mass is relatively great, and the acceleration imparted by the bow string will be less than if you have a light (cane) arrow. With the same bow (and as long as the arrows are the same length), a cane arrow will fly faster and farther than a  solid arrow. However, when the arrow hits its target, both arrows will impact with the same force, which is determined by the quality of the bow. If a hunter's arrows are bouncing off the target rather than penetrating, it's because the bow is too light rather than because the arrows are "dull". When a hunter has a "good bow", he selects a heavy or light arrow depending on how close he can get to the prey without scaring it away. Heavy arrows are best for short distances, cane arrows are best for long distances.

© Al (Alex Alexander) D Girvan 2012 All rights reserved.